PUEBLO, Colo.—A man suspected of sexually assaulting more than 12 women in New Mexico and Texas and trying to kill a Pueblo police officer has prompted an inquiry from northern Colorado investigators.
Police in Fort Collins are looking into whether Robert Howard Bruce, 47, of Pueblo was involved in at least two sexual assaults in 2008, spokeswoman Rita Davis told the Pueblo Chieftain in Wednesday’s editions.
Bruce is being held in the Pueblo County jail on $3 million bail on charges including attempted first-degree murder and being a fugitive. Jail officials had no record of an attorney for him.
Pueblo County prosecutors allege Bruce tried to kill an officer who was to testify against him in a Peeping Tom case.
DNA from the attempted-murder case linked Bruce to 11 sexual assaults in Albuquerque, N.M., starting in 1991 and one in Austin, Texas, in 2006, New Mexico authorities said.
Bruce is also suspected in three rapes in Lubbock, Texas, because of similarities with the New Mexico cases, Lubbock police Capt. Greg Stevens said.
Kansas authorities checked on whether Bruce could have been connected to a series of sexual assaults in Lawrence and Manhattan, but they don’t believe he was involved, said Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for the Kansas attorney general.
The assailant in the Albuquerque cases was dubbed the “Ether Man” because victims were rendered unconscious with a chemical-soaked rag, although police say the chemical wasn’t ether.
New Mexico authorities have issued a warrant for Bruce’s arrest on charges including sexual assault, kidnapping, battery and burglary.
